Hamfatter Investment by Peter Jones
American Inventor Judge and Entrepreneur Backs Band on Dragons' Den
Hamfatter, from Cambridge England were the first music band to play on British TV business programme Dragons' Den broadcast on BBC Two. Thousands of unsigned bands set out their stalls on MySpace looking for a record deal. Other artists contribute their tracks to online music sites like slicethepie where at least one minute of every song is heard before music scouts write their review.
Jamie Turner, the Hamfatter manager delivered a pitch including 1 minute of their most successful track sung by Eoin O'Mahony from the band's third album What Part of Hamfatter Do You Not Understand? to the five Dragons in the sixth series of Dragons' Den shown on British TV on Monday 21 July 2008.
Dragons' Den on British TV
Dragons' Den started its sixth run as a business programme hosted by Evan Davis. The Dragons are five well established figures in Britain, business people interested in investing in equity shares of the companies visiting the Den. In alphabetical order, the five Dragons' Den judges are:
- Duncan Bannatyre
- James Caan
- Peter Jones
- Deborah Meaden
- Theo Paphitis
In each Dragons' Den programme contestants or company directors/workers are shown pitching their business idea to the judges followed by extracts of the Q&A discussions.
The Pitch by Hamfatter
In a first for the British TV programme Dragons' Den – which last night included unsuccessful pitches for a child’s seat, a social networking website for graduates and a stick-on window head pillow - judges listened to one minute of live performance from Hamfatter as part of the pitch by the Hamfatter manager Jamie Turner. Several of the Dragons' Den judges claimed to have the ideal combination of music industry expertise and desire to invest in Hamfatter.
Hamfatter’s original offer made to the five Dragons' Den judges was £75,000 in return for 20% of their future earnings. Questions from the judges to Hamfatter were fielded well and set out their past trajectory of increasing returns from album sales from modest outlay for recording and marketing and some Arts Council funding.
In the Dragons' Den programme, Peter Jones demanded more live performance from Hamfatter and this time from their forthcoming album, number four. Hamfatter’s manager Jamie Turner and lead singer Eoin O'Mahony replied that they were unable to deliver as the tracks were not considered ready. A CD could be sent to him within a week.
With dramatic tension, orchestrated by the editing of the British TV programme, interest from the Dragons' Den appeared to be less strong. Towards the end of the Hamfatter segment, the band received offers from four of the five Dragons' Den judges, discussed their options within the group and shook hands with Peter Jones, entrepreneur and judge on ABC’s American Inventor.
Peter Jones Backs the Music of Hamfatter
With piles of cash in notes in view on each Dragon’s table, Dragons' Den viewers saw Peter Jones offer £75,000 for 30% of the earnings of Hamfatter. Taking advantage of the publicity from Hamfatter and their manager Jamie Turner’s radicalism in approaching the Dragons' Den British TV programme on BBC Two, their single The Girl I Love is available to download in the UK. On August 18, 2008, the remastered album What Part of Hamfatter Do You Not Understand? will be released.
Further information about the British music industry can be read in Indie band emerges from Dragons' Den with the cash – and a rock revolution by Alexi Mostrous and Ben Hoyle in The Times.
